Dignity, Dopamine, and Other Important Matters
by AvocetsInFlight
Summary: A little winter sport AU about finding love across disciplines...
1. Chapter 1

All characters property of Tite Kubo…

**Chapter 1**

Figure skating. The purest form of self-expression on ice. A place where perfection, and beauty, and the melding of the two, reign supreme.

The Kuchiki were figure skaters. It was simply a fact of life, much like airport security being bothersome, or quantum mechanics being difficult to understand. And with that fact came the knowledge that figure skating was the greatest of all sports (particularly winter sports…) since it was not only a sport, but an art form.

Byakuya was a sure possessor of this knowledge. Like his father and mother before him, and his grandparents before them.

The Kuchiki _were_ figure skaters, and they _married_ figure skaters. And Byakuya intended to follow this tradition as well. In fact, he already had. In his late teens he had met another figure skater – a quiet, sweet girl around his age named Hisana. They had gotten along well, and consequently started dating. They married when they turned twenty, but shortly thereafter Hisana was diagnosed with advanced bone cancer. She was gone within a year.

After that, Byakuya decided to devote himself solely to figure skating. The emotions which came with a relationship only got in the way of perfection, and he was determined to be the best in the world.

.-.-.-.

**Another story. What ****_am_**** I thinking? **

**So, I was watching the Olympics and began considering what disciplines various Bleach characters would compete in. Then this story came to me. I daresay this has likely been done before, but it also probably HASN'T been done with this pairing. If it's any comfort I don't plan on this being very long at the moment. Just a sweet, humorous AU told in drabble-ish pieces which lets me explore some of the relational dynamics between these characters without having to keep it in the cannon framework.**

**Enjoy, and please let me know what you think. Oh, and for those of you reading "A Meeting of (Superior) Minds", don't worry – that's getting updated too.**


	2. Chapter 2

All characters property of Tite Kubo…

.-.-.-.

**Chapter 2**

Apparently, his sister Rukia had decided to ignore the memo about Kuchikis sticking with figure skaters when it came to romantic prospects.

It had all started when his sister decided to check out a winter sports meet and rather literally ran into that bubbly, orange-haired alpine skier Orihime and her pugnacious freestyle-skier friend Tatsuki. The three girls immediately hit it off, and as it turned out they just so happened to be attending the same university. It didn't take long before Rukia was introduced to the _rest_ of Orihime's friends.

One of these was a snowboarding commoner named Renji, who had been one of Rukia's best friends in grade school. They had lost touch after his family moved away, so naturally the two wanted to get reacquainted. Which meant Rukia hung out with Renji excessively often. Which meant she got to know his two best friends – an uncouth, blue-haired ruffian named Grimmjow, and a disrespectful orange-haired brat named Ichigo – excessively well.

Byakuya had _meant_ to talk to her about how the Kuchiki did _not_ hang out with competitive snowboarders (even if they _were_ some of the best in the country…), but then the orange-haired brat had the gall to _fall in love_ with Rukia. And Rukia _returned_ the sentiment. And the acquaintance could no longer be escaped.

.-.-.-.


	3. Chapter 3

All characters property of Tite Kubo…

.-.-.-.

**Chapter 3**

This was how Byakuya found himself in his current situation. Namely, spending an evening with his sister and her friends.

Somehow, Rukia had cajoled him into it on the basis of "you _never_ go out to have fun!" and "they're really great people and I want you to spend some time with them!", and now here he was with a passel of people he didn't know squeezed into a booth at a restaurant of a _decidedly_ lower quality. Certainly lower than he was accustomed to, at least. Really, _The Seireitei_ was a restaurant far superior to this Mexican place, but apparently _Las Noches_ (or whatever it was called) was a regular hangout for Rukia and her friends.

According to Rukia, most of the gang was here tonight. There were the ones Byakuya had already met: Orhime, Tatsuki, Ichigo, Renji, and Grimmjow, as well as some new faces. Among these were two speed skaters - Ulquiorra and Sui Feng - and another snowboarder named Nel. Or Nelliel. It seemed to depend upon who was addressing her. Perhaps he should ask her about it. Later.

For now, he felt no need to take part in the inane conversations these people seemed to enjoy. Instead Byakuya would entertain himself by observing the relational dynamics within the group. It would ensure that this wasn't a _complete_ waste of an evening.

.-.-.-.

**In case anyone is wondering – for the purposes of this fic, Rukia is Byakuya's biological sister.**


	4. Chapter 4

All characters property of Tite Kubo…

.-.-.-.

**Chapter 4**

As a group, Rukia's friends were at least marginally interesting to observe – even if many of them appeared to be idiots.

Conversation-partner choice was generally where Byakuya began these little studies, as he had found it an effective way to gauge who in a group was at least decently close to whom. So… Rukia was of course seated next to Kurosaki and exchanging small observations with him. (And the aforementioned young man was sporting a look best described as "utterly besotted".)

Then there were Renji, Grimmjow, Orihime, Tatsuki, Nel (Nelliel?), and Soi Fon – all of whom were currently conversing together. No, wait…not quite. On closer examination it seemed that Grimmjow and Soi Fon were engaged in some sort of verbal altercation over nothing, which – with Soi Fon occupying the space next to Byakuya – he had an unwanted literal front-row seat to. The other four were acting as intermittent referees to the conflict while carrying on their own discussion. Lastly there was Ulquiorra, who said very little at all and seemed to mostly pay attention to Orihime.

From all this he could deduce that beyond the already established couple (Rukia and The Annoying One) there were seemingly two other possible couples in the works. Hn. Fools. Couldn't they see that it would be much more profitable for them to concentrate on their careers as professional athletes? Romantic entanglements and their inherent troubles were best left for later in life. His own experience had taught him that.

.-.-.-.

**It seems our dear Byakuya is unaware of the genre of this story…**


	5. Chapter 5

All characters property of Tite Kubo…

.-.-.-.

**Chapter 5**

At this moment Byakuya's mental musings were interrupted. Apparently Soi Fon was fed up with the game she and Grimmjow were playing, as she had just gotten up from the table and huffed off in the direction of the restrooms. As soon as she had done so, Nelliel seemed to signal to Orihime and Tatsuki (who were seated on the other side of the table), whereupon the orange-haired girl moved to sit between Nel and Ulquiorra, the black-haired girl seized Grimmjow and dragged him away from the table saying something about "…been meaning to ask you about that one move – it'll just take a minute…" (much to the blue-haired man's evident confusion), and everyone else at the table (aside from Byakuya, of course) assisted in moving the absent peoples' plates, drinks, etc. to new locations.

It seemed the point of the whole pointless exercise was to arrange the seating so that Grimmjow and Soi Fon would have to sit next to each other when they got back. It also seemed that Rukia and her friends (at least those currently present) found the scheme highly amusing, judging from the amount of snickering to be heard. A part of Byakuya wanted to sigh and roll his eyes at their juvenile antics, but another part was very interested in seeing what the involved parties' reactions would be. He reconciled these urges by sipping his ice water and attempting to appear as uninterested as possible.

.-.-.-.

**And now we're finally to a part of the story where the action takes place outside of Byakuya's head! Woot!**


	6. Chapter 6

All characters property of Tite Kubo…

.-.-.-.

**Chapter 6**

A somewhat interesting upshot of the whole seat-change caper was that the green-haired girl was now sitting next to Byakuya, which really was the most favorable outcome to be had from the options presented by the change in arrangements.

Probably.

Well, at least he could now ask her what her preferred name was with no inconvenience to himself. But he couldn't do it just yet, as she was currently speaking with the bubbly, orange-haired Orihime and attempting to include Ulquiorra in the conversation as well. How very…nice…of Nel/Nelliel.

On another note, it seemed Ulquiorra was not displeased with the seating changes either – judging from the fact that he now seemed to be sitting as close to Orihime as he could manage without being completely obvious. At this rate he might even _say_ something to her before the evening was up. Really, one almost had to feel a bit sorry for the guy. He very evidentially had trouble with social interaction in general, but it was equally apparent that he was almost literally dying to catch Orihime's attention. Ah well, at the very least Ulquorra's predicament could provide Byakuya with live dinner theater of the non-ear-splitting variety. How he did hope that the two loud ones would stay away a while longer.

.-.-.-.

**Aaaannd I'm finally updating this story again. Yaaay! (Things have been very busy IRL, and it's been hard to find time to compose fanfiction. *sigh*) As compensation for the delay, have not one, not two, but three, yes****_ three_**** new chapters!**


	7. Chapter 7

All characters property of Tite Kubo…

.-.-.-.

**Chapter 7**

Rather frustratingly, Byakuya still had not gotten a chance to speak with Nelliel/Nel. Just as he was about to Tatsuki, Grimmjow, and Soi Fon all came back to the table (in about that order), and the expected entertaining reaction from the quarrelsome pair played itself out.

It started with Tatsuki plopping herself down beside Renji before Grimmjow realized what was going on. This of course left only the two seats at the end open, and before the blue-haired man could say anything about it Soi Fon arrived back on the scene. She immediately realized the situation she was faced with and began lobbing accusations at Grimmjow, which he denied in his singularly abrasive style.

At that point Kurosaki made himself heard and somehow convinced the two of them to 'just sit down and eat before their food got any colder'. (At which point Rukia whispered some cutesy little comment to The Idiot about his potential parenting skills, whereupon her intended went rather red about the ears and mumbled something about 'his sister Yuzu being a bad influence on him' while not-quite-successfully hiding his pleased expression. It was quite nauseating, really. But, back the other drama at hand…)

Soi Fon and Grimmjow were now seated and seemed to be eating the remainder of their meals in silence, amazingly enough. However, they would occasionally steal glances at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking. The others at the table pretended not to notice them for a while, and chattered amongst themselves (Nel-Nelliel was now involved in an apparently fascinating discussion of some snowboarding move with Renji. Annoying.) Then, when they could resist no longer, the group of friends (led by Kurosaki) teased the volatile pair a bit about their steadily growing blushes – which Grimmjow and Soi Fon denied in concert.

.-.-.-.

**GrimmSoi – The Sideshow (…whether they like it or not…)**


	8. Chapter 8

All characters property of Tite Kubo…

.-.-.-.

**Chapter 8**

The evening continued in this way for a while longer and then – it was over. The bill was paid, people had gathered their things, and now they were all saying their goodbyes before going their separate ways. Byakuya _still_ had not gotten a chance (taken the opportunity?) to speak with the green-haired girl in possession of two names. She had begun to address him twice during their time in the restaurant, but had been interrupted by her friend's conversation before Byakuya had been able to formulate a suitable response.

And now she was about to walk away, alone, towards her car, and if he didn't ask her now it was unlikely he would get another chance to in the near future. He _had_ to talk to her now, if only to avoid Rukia's lecture about 'not making an effort with people' on the way home. The others were safely away now, and Rukia and Kurosaki had gone back into the restaurant to retrieve a jacket. This was the perfect opportunity to speak to the vivacious snowboarder – if he hurried.

She had just said 'goodnight' to Byakuya and was beginning to turn away when he finally found his voice.

"Um! Ah...goodnight! No, I mean…that is, rather…what are you called?"

Well, if that wasn't the _stupidest_-sounding set of words he had ever strung together in his entire _life_…

"Mm? Oh, I'm so sorry! I've never properly introduced myself, have I? I'm Nelliel. But you can also call me Nel, if you like."

Her introduction was accompanied by a soft smile of the sort which would likely leave lesser men fumbling for words.

Of course, Byakuya was no lesser man.

(Never mind the fact than when _he_ was unsettled, _his_ default mode was the almost-frigid politeness he had practiced for years. That had _nothing_ to do with this.)

"Nelliel. I likewise apologize for not introducing myself properly before this. As you are likely already aware, my name is Byakuya."

.-.-.-.

**They speak! To each other!**


End file.
